


Coming Back to You

by morcabre



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, M/M, The Avengers (2012) Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 22:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14778540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morcabre/pseuds/morcabre
Summary: Steve and Tony keep in contact while Cap travels across the United States.





	Coming Back to You

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fill for the free space on my MCU bingo card
> 
> Currently un-betaed

His phone rang with an incoming message when Steve was on his way from New York City. He frowned and did his best to ignore it, but the thought about it kept buzzing just at the edge of his consciousness. He pulled over, took his phone out and carefully swiped to unblock the screen. 'Give us a call when you're back from your wandering, Cap. We'll do a team-building-reunion dinner or something. Not the shawarma this time, probably,' it said. The message wasn't signed, and it took Steve a while to figure out it was most likely Stark.

He put a phone away and kept driving.

***

The coffee tasted like garbage. Not as bad as postum that Steve had once during the war, but definitely worse than what he got to taste in New York during the few weeks after he woke up. 

His phone rang again. This time it said: 'Apparently Fury thinks we work for him now. He is terribly wrong.'

Steve put the phone away and kept drinking his coffee. 

The next message caught him on his way from the diner, 'Seriously you need to get back here and explain that Brucie-bear and I are not his slaves.'

***

He probably shouldn't have been reading his messages while driving. He did it anyway. 

'So, you come here often?'

Steve raised his eyebrows and pulled over.

'That doesn't even make sense,' he texted back.

'Well, you ignored two previous perfectly sensible messages, so I had to go for it.'

Steve probably would've been surprised with a speed with which he recieved the answer, but he knew Tony too well for that. He started the bike, smiling, and drove forward. 

***

He travelled south, never stopping for long in any of the cities he passed on his way. Tony dropped a message once every while. By then, Steve learned how to save his number, and also how to google people which led him to a discovery that you probably shouldn't do that. 

Their conversations went something like this:

'I lost my phone number, can I have yours?'

'Oh sorry, Tony, I have no idea what it is. Maybe there's a telephone book you could check?'

'I’d better get a library card, because I’m checking you out.'

'Would you even read paper books?' asked Steve, because he was genuinely curious.

'Of course I can read paper books.'

'Isn't it too old-fashioned for you?'

'Oh I can appreciate old-fashioned,' wrote Tony, and Steve felt himself blushing slightly. 

'Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?' texted Tony again a few days after that.

Then, second later it was followed by another message from him:

'Actually, forget that, seeing how I actually did fall from heaven.'

'And did it hurt?

'Damn, Steve, I didn't know you could play along.'

'Oh I can do this all day.'

'How about you do me instead?'

***

In a small town in Louisiana Steve picked up a guy at a bar and took him back to his small motel room. He was honest enough with himself to admit that the guy might've looked a bit like Tony.

Next morning he took the phone and read the new message:

'Your legs must be tired because you’ve been running through my mind all night.'

'How did you ever manage to sleep with anyone is a mystery to me,' texted back Steve.

'Stevie, darling, I put the effort in, and that's what counts,' asnwered Tony.

'Don't call me Stevie.'

'Oh so you don't mind the darling?'

***

The excuse he gave for his trip, of trying to find his place in this new world, was utter crap. Steve never was in Texas. His place couldn't have possibly been here. He also had no idea it was so unbearably hot.

'What’s a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?'

'Dying, mostly.'

For some time, the phone was silent.

'Do you need any help? Is everything okay?'

Steve closed his eyes and leaned back. He was in a motel on the outskirts of Houston, and somehow he felt more tired than after the battle in New York.

'I'm okay,' he sent to Tony.

He started typing: 'I'm coming home,' and then he cleared the message. He packed his stuff, gave back the keys and got out of the motel.

***

Steve called a few days later from his SHIELD-issued and, frankly, depressingly bland apartment. 

"Hey, Stars and Stripes, what can I do for you today?" Tony's voice asked in his ear.

Steve didn't really expect him to pick up so soon, so he floundered, cleared his throat and finally managed to get the words out of his mouth:

"So, I'm back in New York, and I was wondering if that offer for team reunion dinner is still on."

"Uh... sure," answered Tony after a while. "Text me a place and time, and we'll be there, Cap."

"Okay," said Steve and waited. Tony said nothing back. In silence, that followed his words, Steve couldn't help but think that this tense and awkward conversation was the opposite of what he expected from Tony. He wondered if maybe he was right after all in thinking that this whole flirting thing they were doing lately was just a joke for Tony. Well, how stupid he was going to look for taking it all seriously now. "Well... I'll text you," he said and hung up.

***

He chose a small pizza restaurant. Firstly, because it was kind of stupid to back-track on that offer he made, and secondly, because he really wanted to know what the avengers were all up to in his absence. He was the first to arrive and sat at a big table with six chairs figuring it would fit everyone in an unlikely case that they all showed up. 

Tony came second, and also, as it turned out, the last.

"Bruce is busy with science stuff, Thor is off planet, and frankly, you'd have more luck getting ahold of SHIELD wonder twins, than me," he explained.

"Okay," answered Steve nonchalantly.

They ordered food and kept sitting at this giant empty table, in a complete silence. Tony started drumming at it with his fingers.

"So, you're not gonna flirt with me now, then?" suddenly blurted out Steve.

"What?" asked Tony, his fingers stopped.

"Well, you kept flirting with me ever since I left New York, but you're not in the mood for it now?" Steve asked, frowning. His voice sounded as if he was disappointed by that, and he didn't really appreciate it.

Tony shrugged.

"I figured it wasn't the best idea to flirt with you when you're close enough to punch me, and I'm all about making good decisions these days."

Steve snorted.

"What?" asked Tony, indignated. "I'm not the one who decided the thing he was missing to start loving this world is a long-ass trip across the States."

"Well, it helped," Steve shrugged. "In a way. Also, what a prude do you think I am to punch you for flirting? I reciprocated, if you didn't notice."

"Yeah, you did," Tony visibly swallowed and licked his lips. Steve couldn't help but follow the movement with his eyes. "So, what would happen if I broke my good decision making streak and offered to turn this evening into a date?"

"I wouldn't peg you for a 'cheap pizza restaurant date' kind of guy, but I'm not picky," said Steve, smiling. "We just look a bit stupid sitting at this table."

Tony shrugged and stood up, coming closer to Steve and offering him a hand.

"The night's still young," he said. "Lots of stuff we can do instead."

Steve thought for a moment and felt himself cringe.

"Something the matter?" asked Tony, frowning.

"Well, I almost answered 'how about we do me instead', but that would be... not great," he asnwered, finally taking Tony's hand and getting up. 

Tony laughed.

"I'm not about to claim neither that I'm not easy, nor that I wouldn't go for it," he said, and Steve felt himself blushing again. "But I think I'd rather take it slow this time."

Steve met his gaze and smiled.

"Look at that, someone's making good decisions again."


End file.
